Officers subdue 'chaos'

MISHAWAKA -- An unruly scene at the 100 Center early Sunday morning is prompting Mishawaka police to have a chat with business owners in the complex in an effort to curb some of the violence.

A second serious altercation since June unfolded about 2 a.m. outside of Riverside Tavern, where several fights broke out.

"We're going to get a handle on this," Mishawaka Police Chief Ken Witkowski said Monday. "We're not going to do this every week. We're going to talk to business owners, and collectively come up with ideas.

"We want to draw people to businesses, not push them away."

An officer who responded to the 100 Center on Sunday would later describe the scene unfolding in front of him as "mass chaos."

There were more than 100 people in the parking lot, fights breaking out at several locations and the sound of a nearby gunshot, according to police reports.

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Officers were already in the general location after a suspect had reportedly urinated on a Mishawaka squad car and assaulted an officer outside Center Street Pub.

By the time police from Mishawaka, South Bend, St. Joseph County and Indiana state were able to quell the situation, four people had been arrested.

According to a police report, the incident intensified when two officers at the scene heard the gunshot to the east of Riverside Tavern. When they arrived at that location, there were reportedly about 30 people screaming and running.

The officers said they located a woman standing in the lot, holding a pink semi-automatic handgun. Officer Jonathan Bogart moved toward her, telling her to drop the weapon while he pointed his gun at her, according to the report.

Once within striking distance, the officer said he used his forearm to hit the woman in her chest, causing her to fall to the ground. He was then able knock her gun away.

During the arrest of the woman, another fight reportedly broke out in front of Riverside Tavern, causing all officers to respond to that altercation.

Without backup, Bogart said the remaining people in the parking lot began surrounding him and moving closer, causing the officer to point his gun at them, police said. The crowd reportedly did not move back until another Mishawaka officer with a long gun came in as backup.

Once the officer placed the woman into his squad car, several other fights broke out, which brought in dozens of officers from various departments, who were eventually able to break it up.

The woman, who was arrested on suspicion of criminal recklessness with a firearm, told police she fired a shot into the air in self-defense to scare a man who was beating on a female friend of hers.

In a separate incident at the location, Cpl. Jason Barthel, working part time as a security guard at Center Street Pub, removed a man from the bar.

After leaving, the suspect allegedly began urinating on his police vehicle parked outside.

When Barthel confronted the suspect by grabbing his arm to arrest him, the man reportedly made a violent turn to his left, causing Barthel to fall forward. Barthel tripped over a parking block and fell into a wooden fence.

The suspect then ran on foot, before being arrested a short distance away.

Barthel suffered a large contusion on the right side of his forehead and had several small cuts on his right forearm, police said.

The suspect in that case was arrested on suspicion of aggravated assault on a police officer.